There is in existence a poker card game known as Texas Hold Em. The game is played so that each player has the use of seven cards in order to form a five card poker hand. The player having the highest poker hand is the game winner. Hands are ranked in standard poker fashion, i.e. royal flush, straight flush, four of a kind, full house, flush, straight, three of a kind, two pair, one pair, and high card, in descending order.
In Texas Hold Em each player receives two cards face down. Additionally, there are five community cards dealt face up. The term “community card” refers to a card that is exposed (face up) and available for use by any of the players in order to form a poker hand. Each player is enabled to use seven cards (i.e. the two concealed cards that he/she holds, plus the five community cards that are available to each player).
In Texas Hold Em the cards are dealt sequentially so that each player initially receives his two cards face down, after which the five community cards are dealt face up. Rounds of betting occur at certain times during the course of the deal, usually after the two face down cards have been dealt, then after the third community card has been dealt, then after the fourth community card has been dealt, and finally after the fifth community card has been dealt. Thus, there are four rounds of betting (in addition to an ante prior to the cards being dealt.
Each player in Texas Hold Em is treated equally: dealt the same number of cards in the same manner (face down), with the same wagering amounts (i.e.: at the end of each round, either all players have the same amount of money wagered, or in the case of both a main pot and one or more side pots, all players with a potential of winning each of these pots has the same amount of money wagered for each of those pots).
There are three main distinctions that separate this Poker Game from Texas Hold Em:
{Note: The “a)” designations in the following list refer to the “Texas Hold Em” game. The b) designations refer to the current invention}
1a) When Texas Hold Em is played in a casino-setting, the house does not participate with the players as a competitor, but instead makes money only through the facilitation of the game, either through a per-hand percentage of the pot (“the rake”), an up-front percentage of the total preset tournament wagering amount (“the buy-in”), a set, per time-segment charge for the use of a table and a dealer's services, or other similar method.
1b) In this Poker Game, the house is a risk-bearing participant, is dealt the same number of card as each other participant, and has the same probability as each other participant of having the best dealt hand in each round. There are three differences in the rules between the dealer and the players:
1b (1) wagering amount—to play a hand through to the end, a player must make three separate bets whereas the house makes its entire wager at the time of the players' first bets. In addition, the total amount wagered by each player staying through the entire hand may differ from the amount wagered by the house. (The total amounts wagered by each player staying through the entire hand are the same.)
1b (2) dealt cards—cards are dealt to players face up and are immediately known to all participants, whereas cards dealt to the house are face down and not revealed until the end of the hand.
1b (3) folding—at multiple times during the course of each hand, each player has the option of betting and staying in the hand, or folding, removing himself/herself from the hand without wagering any additional amount. The house stays in every hand through to the end and cannot fold.
2a) In Texas Hold Em the amount of information available to each player before the end of the hand is limited to the community cards dealt up to that time plus his/her own face down cards.
2b) In this Poker Game, the information available to each player at any given time includes the community cards and the player's own cards dealt up to that time plus all cards dealt to other players up to that time. The only dealt cards that are unknown at any time before the end of the hand are those dealt to the house.
3a) Texas Hold Em promotes the representing of each players' relative hand strength through the betting structure. Players may misrepresent their hand strength by either over-betting a weak hand (bluffing) or under-betting a strong hand.
3b) The betting structure in this Poker Game is set for each round of betting and is based on a predetermined amount, which may be different for each round. While these predetermined amounts may vary over time, they are known prior to the beginning of each hand and cannot be changed during that hand.
The game of the present invention involves the use of seven cards by each player to form a five card poker hand. Initially, three community cards are dealt face up (each player has the use of these community cards). Then each player receives one card face up and the house receives one card face down. Then a fourth community card is dealt face up. Then each player receives a second card face up and the house receives one card face down. Lastly, a fifth community card is dealt face up.
Betting occurs during the course of the hand, e.g. a first set of simultaneous betting in the beginning of the hand before any cards have been dealt, a second set of betting immediately following the dealing of each player's first card, and a third and final set of betting either immediately following or immediately preceding each player's second card.
The present invention concerns a poker game that is in many respects similar to Texas Hold Em, but mostly differs therefrom in that players' cards that are dealt face down in Texas Hold Em are dealt face up, and the game is designed to include the house as a risk-bearing participant.
Specific features of the invention will be apparent from the attached description of a way that the game is played according to the invention.